Many area television viewers hoped to tune in to their favorite show on Tuesday night — NCIS — but saw nothing but a dark screen.

There are about 46,000 satellite television subscribers in WCNT-CBS channel 9’s market area — including Craven, Pamlico, Lenoir, Greene and Jones counties — that are being affected by the blackout caused by negotiations over contract fees by the station’s parent company, Media General, and DISH Network.

DISH Network claims the broadcasting company, based in Richmond, Va., is attempting to raise its fees five times the current amount.

“We’ve attempted to reach a fair agreement via many avenues, but Media General remains immovable in its demands,” said Sruta Vootukuru, DISH director of programming. “They declined a contract extension, an offer from DISH to pay our competitors’ rates and have now refused our willingness to match rates paid to other area broadcasters. Media General is overreaching by trying to force DISH customers to pay more than their neighbors.”

Vickie Jones, general manager of WNCT, said that figure amounts to “pennies a day.”

“We’re asking for a fair market agreement,” she said.

Jones said the number of pay-TV satellite and cable customers — industry-wide — are about 35 percent of free-television viewers, yet the revenue they generate for companies that offer free broadcasting is 7 percent.

“Their product is gathering various providers’ signals,” Jones said about pay-TV companies. “… They actually package and resell those signals. … They need to pay us a fair amount if they’re going to make money on it.”

DISH has issued a proposal to Congress, backed by industry members, which would allow pay-TV providers to substitute another broadcast station during contract negotiations.

The American Television Alliance is one of those supporters. Its website states the 1992 Federal Communications Commission rules “no longer protect consumers in today’s competitive TV marketplace.”

Jones said local television stations are impacted by the FCC decisions, while satellite companies are often located far from the communities they affect. A resident of Lenoir County and Duplin County native, Jones said she had to hook up an antenna at her home to pick up the local CBS channel where she works in Greenville.

“It’s a protection the FCC provides for our local broadcasters,” she said about the rules.

Danielle Johnson, a DISH spokeswoman, said negotiating temporarily with another broadcaster is “just a better solution for our customers out there.”

She said the issue is not whether the rates are raised, it’s how much they are being raised.